Ticking Time Away
by The Tainted Queen
Summary: Their time ended tragically and they were given a second chance, or rather she was given a second chance. To save everything or to make it worse. Only time would tell.


**Pairing: **Kimimaro x Sakura; Hints of SasuSaku & NaruHina  
**Rating: **T  
**Summery: **Their time ended tragically and they were given a second chance, or rather she was given a second chance. To save everything or to make it worse. Only time would tell.  
**Story Type: **Chapters.  
**Story Start: **February 18th.  
**Story Update: **February 19th.

**Chapter Playlist: **"Thank You" - Dido & "Fallen" - Sarah McLachlan.

**THIS STORY IS A CHAPTER STORY! NOT A ONE SHOT!

* * *

**

With a heavy heart and tears already blurring her hazy vision, the small glow of green chakara engulfed her hand as she pressed heavily against her sensei's chest, cursing like a sailor in attempt to keep the sobs at bay. The man was losing blood fast, and without a blood transfusion she _knew _he wasn't going to make it, but none the less maybe she could prolong his death in time for her to gather her things and get the hell out of the battlefield. Yet, leaving the battlefield meant leaving every other nin who was risking their life, for death. Unlike others she was trained to heal and kill, while most medic nin taken onto the field only had one purpose - to heal, and were easily targeted out of the bunch.

So it was no surprise when most the medic nin were slaughtered during the first hour of the battle that she had come to loathe with every fiber of her being. With tears stinging her eyes and overflowing her left only to leave a stream to clear the dirt and grime off her creamy face she finally lets out a sob. As the glowing around her hands fade she drops her head in shame and rests her head on her sensei's chest and lets the sob wrack her body.

"I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei!" Her agony filled cry, stings at her sensei as he gently pats her head and lets a small smile come to his face. He knows he is dying, the cold embrace had arrived not to long ago and was only delayed by his students healing. He had saw potential in her, but never really used it to mold her into something great - instead he focused on training his other two students who seemed more eager then she had been. A thing he had always regretted, maybe he could have formed more then just a student and teacher bond with her, maybe they could have been great friends if he had just taken the time to truly see her potential and actually train her.

"It's all right Sakura, you did your best."

The blood trailing from the corner of his mouth, didn't help the situation much. He stares with his multi-colored eyes into her jade ones that widen in horror at the blood and only seem to produce more tears from her strained face. And suddenly, she is sitting up again with her hands glowing green once more and a familiar warmth enters his chest and her horror stricken eyes have a new tint of determination in them.

"N-No! I won't lose you! I promised I wouldn't burden anyone I can't let you die!"

He frowns, and suddenly he is well aware of what he missed out in training her. While he was her teacher, they could have had a more special bond, while defiantly not romantic maybe one like he had with Sasuke. The prodigy of the team, the one he focused on because he had a sharingan too, and was foolish enough to leave the rest of his students to train for themselves. Kakashi is well aware of her fear to become a burden to people and knows that is why she is struggling to save him. Maybe if he had been there for her a bit more, she wouldn't be saving him because she didn't want to be a burden. But instead, because he was a friend and an important person to her. He could voice his statement but he knows all to well she would decline that statement and say what he does not want to hear. That he is her teacher, and for that he is special to her. That unfortunately is not what he wants, and he was a fool to realize this especially when he was dying.

"Sakura stop." His voice is soft, yet firm but she doesn't spare him a glance as she continues her concentration on the fatal blows that he received all over. With a pained sigh he stares up at the sky, noting that the clouds are unusually dark and that means it is going to rain which was quite a contradiction to earlier, where he could have sworn there had not been a single cloud in the sky. A chuckle rumbles through his throat and he immediately regrets it as he coughs up another thing of blood, much to his students horror by the small gasp elicited from her.

"I'm proud of you Sakura, I'm sorry I couldn't have trained you more."

It hurts to move his arms, they feel like lead and it's a struggle to keep his arm up but he manages, and with a soft pat it lands on his students head who jerks in surprise as her hands spring up from their position on his chest and she stares at him. Guilt ridden on her face that it pains him to know that he is dying in front of her, none the less she was a medic nin so it only made it hurt that much more. To know she wasn't able to save him, rather then not being able to - he knew that feeling well and nothing he said would have made the pain hurt less.

"It's not your fault." His eyes feel heavy and he doesn't bother to fight and closes them softly, as his students cries get louder and her voice calling his name just seems to fade away, and soon he hears nothing and the dark, cold embrace of death takes him and his regrets to the grave.

Emerald eyes widen, the lifeless body of her sensei tugs at her heart violently as the bitter tears fill up her vision before overflowing. The pain of losing someone close to her is taking its toll on her already worn out body, she was physically drained and now the fact she had just failed to save her own sensei was leaving her emotionally drained. As much as she wants to stay and grieve for the loss, she knows she is still on the battlefield and her enemy isn't about to grieve with her over the fact she lost a part of her team. Death happens, it hurts, and people move on and the battlefield has no time for the weak.

With a new burden weighing on her shoulders, she wipes the tears off on the back of her bloody gloves and sniffs before slowly raising to her feet. The wind shifts violently and thunder cracks loudly in the distance as lightning illuminates the sky, and she wonders briefly if the gods are grieving for the loss of her sensei. With a bitter smile at the thought, and a soft prayer she hopes that her sensei makes his way into heaven before turning her back and running forward back toward the battle field. Still awfully aware of the pain that throbs in her chest, now is not the time to soak in sorrow - she has a team to look after and that is what he what have wanted her to do.

And it is all to sudden that she becomes painfully aware of the battlefield around her, the amount of bloodshed and those who were still fighting. Though none of that is what she is focusing on, it's the all to familiar screech of birds and violent rush of wind that grasps her attention as she stares at the scene before her. With tears threatening to spill again she stares in horror at what used to be her team, and what it had come to. Orochimaru had attacked the village leaving what remains to be their home, placing two old rivals up against each other once more and the results are terrifying at the damage.

She knows too, that their bodies are at their limit with large gashes and bleeding for that long, this blow against each other is meant to kill, and at that thought she feels her own heartbeat stop. Time slowing down and emerald eyes widening in horror, she throws herself forward screaming their names in a desperate but futile attempt to get through to them. They are rivals and the only person they see right now, is each other and who can finally beat the other.

Gravel and dirt crunches beneath her shoes, as she channels the chakara she has left into her already aching legs, she lifts one foot high in the air and slams it down as the earth bends beneath her power. Cracking across the surface and spreading like fire down the path she is running and splits the ground in half, and buys her the time she needs.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" Her voice is scratchy and makes it painfully obvious that she is on the verge of a breakdown. Failing to save her sensei, and if she doesn't make it, she had failed to save her own teammates as well. Training long and hard to not become a burden, and suddenly it felt like she was a child again, powerless and helpless against everything. Like the past years she had endured were for nothing and that she hadn't gained any power to begin with. It's the scene on the hospital all over again, where the only thing she can do is scream and cry for them to stop while running toward them - as if that would have helped any.

"_And those who don't save their friends are worse then scum."_

"No," the determination in her voice is foreign to even her. "I'm not useless." With renewed strength, and ignoring the pain through her aching limbs she lunges for them - crying out their name.

Sapphire eyes widen, as blood red suddenly narrow - surely she wouldn't be stupid enough to take the blow. Though they watched with no power or strength left to fight the force they had run at, as the pink haired female of the team runs in between them and stands still. Her emerald eyes are hard as she looks into blood red ones and he grunts and tries to jerk is arm around her, but the force of his chidori is to strong to maneuver out of the chosen path and his arm slams into her chest and out her back as blood erupts from her mouth, and suddenly Naruto's hand slams through her back and tears its way through the front, only to have him scream in horror. Time stands still as they stare, one in indifference and the other in complete and utter terror.

"S-Sakura-chan, why?" His voice cracks and tears leak from his blue eyes which squint shut, afraid to move in fear it will make the wound and pain for his teammate worse. Who is currently gasping for air, while gripping Sasuke's arm, keeping him from remove his arm from her chest, while his hand lays limp out the back of her.

Her body is shuddering in pain, and blood is dripping from her wounds and leaving a small puddle to form beneath her feet as she gasps and coughs violently before inhaling sharply, with grit teeth.

"You two are so dumb." Her voice cracks in agony.

Out of all the things she could have said, Sasuke had not expected that as he stared with one eyebrow quirked at her weakening figure. Pale face, buckling knees, and trembling lips with eyes filling up with tears as she lets her head roll back so she can stare at the sky. As it cracks loudly with thunder, and soon the light drops of rain suddenly begin.

"You wanted power well you both got it," Her voice is harsh, and almost like a slap in the face but before Naruto could protest she stopped him. "Take a good look around you! Everyone is dead! What are you fighting for anymore?! To try and prove yourselves by _killing _each other?! Where would that have gotten you?"

Sasuke frowned and his blood red eyes slowly bleed back to their original onyx color, her iron grip on his hand is fading and he briefly wonders if he should just rip his hand from her chest. The last thing he wanted was to be lectured on their actions which was probably what she was aiming at, if it not for her weakened body allowing only small talk before.. A sudden twist in his chest and he felt his own eyes widen, as the twist in his chest turned painfully and his throat swelled up making it hard to swallow the lump forming.

Die.. Why was that so hard to accept? People die, his family died and that brought nothing but anger and hatred for his brother. So why would this be any different? She wasn't that important to him, just another person he severed his bonds with so why the hell should he care? With his reasoning he shoved down the fear of this girl dying and replaced it with indifference and annoyance, something he was good at when he didn't want to deal with the actual feelings. Which he didn't have, or at least told himself, this - all this pain was just side affects from the drug he took earlier to increase his chakara and enhance his performance.

Her gasp for air jerked him from his thoughts as he stared at the blood trailing from the corners of her lips, watching the droplets of blood drip onto the ground beneath her.

"And you Sasuke," her voice was sharp but her eyes were soft and showed pain and sadness in the depths of them.

He mentally rolled his eyes, she was so easy to read - even after all this time. "If your revenge is against Itachi why are you taking it out on us? The pain you left everyone with and now attempting to kill Naruto! Have you gone mad?" Sasuke felt his whole body freeze as his eyes narrowed, vicious insults forming on the tip of his tongue.

"What do you know?!" he bites back, glaring into her jade eyes who seem unfazed at his reaction, which only served to piss him off more.

"I know you became exactly like him in your attempt to kill him."

And suddenly his world seemed to stand still for once in his life, as he stared wide eyed at the female who seemed eerily calm and kept her eyes locked with his.

"Look at all the people you've killed." Her voice cracks but her eyes roll to the side before glancing back at him, as if urging him to look - which he reluctantly does. The image isn't pretty, with the bodies laying sprawled out across the field, blood everywhere and everything destroyed.

And suddenly he's a child again and those bodies are those of his family which his brother had ruthlessly slaughtered without a seconds hesitation. Just like he did to those people.

"See?" her voice is pointing out the obvious and he tried to hear a hint of mocking in her tone - something to be angry at her about, as his petrified eyes land on hers once more. Painfully aware of what he's done, and more or less what he has become. With narrowed eyes he stares at the ground. The small sobs coming from the blond behind them become obvious as he sobs loudly and always has since he was a child. Sasuke resists the urge to roll his eyes, some things never change as he listens to Naruto mumbling something about what he let happen and about the pink haired girl too.

"You two have to stop this madness, it's taken over you both." Her voice is becoming softer and the pain is obvious in her voice. She is struggling to hold on but losing as her head drops low and her hand drops from Sasuke's arm and her body slumps forward taking both the males with her as they attempt to hold the sudden weight. Slowly Sasuke dislodges his hand from her chest and wipes the blood on his clothes and stares at her form as Naruto follows in suit. Removing his hand from her stomach but instead he dropped to the ground with her, cradling her body in his arms and screaming for her to wake up.

"S-Sakura-chan!" he wails pathetically shaking her limp body, but the girl doesn't respond. Sasuke frowns and watches the scene unfold before him, her pain filled words still echoing in his head like a broken record player. Unfortunately for him, he has no way to turn the damn sound off so is forced to listen to her dying words over, and over again.

With a drop of water landing on his nose, he slowly lifts his head to stare up at the dark sky as the rain falls faster and harder. Washing away the dry blood on his sickly pale skin as his onyx eyes water with a foreign substance and drip down the sides of his cheeks. The gut wrenching pain filling his entire being, and through the ache he wonders why he cares so much. Was it because he has become exactly what his brother expected of him, and followed the path like a trained dog? Or was it because of the dobe's cries as the pink haired girl remains dead to him, to the world.

Did she have regrets? He found himself wondering while dropping his head to stare at her motionless form, the blood still seeping from her open wounds. It had slowed down dramatically though and he figured it was probably because she didn't have much blood to bleed with anymore.

Yes, he thinks. She did have regrets and he knew most of them, as foreign as that sounded he somehow just _knew_, what she regretted and how those regrets were taken to the grave with her. The raven haired teen feels his throat constrict painfully and swallowing becomes a troubled task as the water in his eyes continue to flow down his cheeks and he continues to ignore them, telling himself it's just the rain making him think he's crying. _Deny it all you like,_ the voice in his head tells him and he knows very well that deep inside him he _is _crying and that it isn't because of his path and what he had chosen. It's because of his dead teammate, and as stupid as his thoughts make him feel - he always pictured his team as an invincible one. That they could never die, and that he wouldn't either. They were strong and overcame many things - so at the thought of his team dying it all seemed so foreign almost like a dream, or maybe a nightmare.

His legs are beginning to feel weak, his body suddenly feels like lead and he realizes how exhausted he really is as he falls to his knees and collapses backwards onto his butt. Still staring in his own stupor at his dead teammate and the dobe who is crushing her in a hug.

"She's dead!" Sasuke's own voice was cracked and it almost hurt to speak, he wasn't sure why he had said that. Maybe it was to try and convince himself? He scoffed, he need no convincing for he did not care.

The blond dobe's eyes whipped up to his and Sasuke watched with indifference as Naruto's lip curled up and he let out a vicious snarl as if telling him to shut the hell up. As much as Sasuke wanted to argue back, he didn't have the energy so simply sat there and silence and stared.

Sasuke wasn't sure how long they had not said anything, but didn't bother to count. Naruto still clutched the dead female's body close to his, or as much as his weakened limbs would allow him with the dead weight in his arms. He frowned, but found no will to move or bother to care.

"She didn't deserve to die teme." His voice was quiet, like he was coming to terms with her death after awhile. Sasuke didn't know when he had started laying on the muddy floor beneath him, but he was while staring at the dark clouds that roared with thunder and cracked with lightning. The light illuminating what was left of the battlefield, casting shadows on their figures as the heavy rain pelted down.

"Aa." He was quiet after that, and turned his head with the energy he had left and watched as the dobe fought the own exhaustion but was losing the battle quickly. His eyes were dropping slightly and his grip on the girl had slackened considerably from when he first held her, and after awhile they were all laying on the ground. In a bitter sense it had reminded him of a time when they were all younger, and on a mission. They had all fallen asleep in a field, and he awoke from a nightmare only to find Sakura still up. They had talked for the longest time, before finally falling asleep. It had been for the first time, a night where he had slept without the nightmares haunting him, it had been a time he wished he could go back to.

"What would you do teme, if we could turn back time?"

Sasuke was startled when the loser had finally spoke up, but the question seemed difficult and the childish part of him wanted to remark at how Naruto was able to come up with such a difficult question but fought against it. Instead, he took the question to heart and stared over at the pink haired girl whose eyes were closed and her lips tilted into a frown. The frown she died with.

Would he have chosen the same path? Would he remember if time had gone back, and would he continue to make the same mistake for his revenge? He couldn't answer himself, let alone answer the blond loser so instead, he remained quiet.

"I would beat that snake-bastard so he never put the curse on you, and we would all still be a team." Naruto declared softly, reaching his hand into the air and curling it into a fist as he grinned like a fool.

Unlike him though, Sasuke frowned and his chapped lips parted to say something but ended up closing. No, it wasn't a stupid dream, now Naruto becoming Hokage was a stupid dream. And Sasuke feared for the village and whoever was alive if he ruled the village, those poor people would probably be forced to have a day to celebrate instant ramen for all he knew. Sasuke smiled at the thought, the smile felt foreign and it made his face feel weird but it wasn't like he didn't enjoy it.

The sound of rain was the only thing they heard for the longest time, the echos of battle on the field had simply just faded away and they weren't sure how much time had passed. All they really knew, was that they were to exhausted to even bother with getting up, and Sasuke's eyelids were so heavy he didn't have the energy to even argue with himself for being so weak. He just wanted to.. Sleep.

"I don't wanna die teme." Naruto's voice was quiet, but cracked and filled with pain.

Sasuke's own onyx eyes that had fluttered close, suddenly shot open and his heart beat erratically in his chest, as panic and adrenalin raced through his veins. Die? No they weren't going to die, after all they hadn't killed each other - the only one who had died was Sakura.(His chest twisted painfully and his gut suddenly hurt - but he ignored it in favor for some other explanation rather then he actually _cared_.)

He tenses and his muscles ache at the sudden tension and his heart beats so fast and so hard he fears it might burst from his chest. Fighting the drug like drowsiness away he manages to pull himself into a sitting position and leans over the pink haired female to peer at the dobe's face. Only to find the blue eyes hazy and half-lidded, barely recognizing the face hovering over his as he lazily _attempts _to swat away the face of Sasuke, which has suddenly appeared in his line of vision.

"Aw gross, the last thing I see before I die is teme's face? I was hoping Sakura-chan's, she would make the death a lot less scary." His voice slurred and panic struck the raven-haired teen.

His own body was becoming heavy, the drug like drowsiness was winning him over again and he collapsed onto the female's body. His head resting on her chest(Much to his dismay) and he found no energy to attempt to dislodge himself from her dead corpse. The adrenalin no longer has any hope of keeping his body awake, and he soon figures that it isn't _just_ because he is tired, but because he is dying. The panic was still there but his own emotions were being doused by this drowsiness that his fighting was proving futile against. He sighs, and closes his own eyes..

He would rest.. Just for a moment.. Before struggling to get up again.. Just.. One more minute.

"Dobe.. Don't die.." his voice slurs too, and suddenly the welcoming(but for some reason cold) embrace takes him into dreamless slumber. The noises of rain and the feeling of its cold pelts on his pale skin seems to fade away, and he should find that a bit odd but he found himself no longer caring. If death gave him a peaceful slumber for the rest of eternity, he found himself not minding that at all, and maybe just maybe. He would find Sakura in one of those peaceful slumbers and talk, just like they had done all those years ago.

A ghost of a smile appeared on his pale face, and he sighed. No, death didn't seem so bad.

* * *

The actual pairing in this story doesn't come in for quite some time! But _please _stay with me, I promise to make it interesting and I hope this story has caught your eye! I have completely re-written it from the original and hope you enjoy!

**-Tainted**


End file.
